Project lets users edit search results

Microsoft introduced a research project Friday that lets users edit and share the results of Internet searches.

Called “U Rank,” the project lets users control a list of search results — allowing them to re-rank and annotate search results, as well as add photos, videos and new pages to them.

The new results can then be shared with friends, who can also manipulate them.

Emre Kiciman of Microsoft Research said that eventually users might also be able to share their lists with people with common interests, who were not “friends.”

For now, he said the idea was to look at “how people can use this as parts of larger tasks that involve search.”

Kiciman used the example of using “U Rank” to search for a vacation rental.

“As I was finding (vacation rentals) I was copying them into a ‘my rental’ list,” he said. “And then afterwards I went through this list and made notes about what the price of these was. The key aspects of the rentals — close to this town or that town.”

For now, Kiciman said there were no plans to introduce “U Rank” as a feature in Live Search.

In order to try it out, visitors have to first sign up for a Windows Live account and then log in here.